


The Best of the Bad Ideas

by Shenandoah_Risu



Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-14
Updated: 2011-07-14
Packaged: 2017-10-21 09:39:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shenandoah_Risu/pseuds/Shenandoah_Risu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stargate Universe, Season 1 Episode 11 ("Space"): What if the communication stones had glitched and Young had been unable to switch back to his body after going to the alien ship the second time? How will the Destiny crew deal with aliens amongst them? And what does it really mean to be an alien? Sometimes the definition is only skin deep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best of the Bad Ideas

**Author's Note:**

> **Title: The Best of the Bad Ideas  
>  Author: Shenandoah Risu  
> Rating**: PG-13  
>  **Content Flags/ Warnings** : some bad language  
>  **Spoilers** : Season 1 up to "Divided"  
>  **Word Count** : around 18,910  
>  **Summary** : _Stargate Universe, Season 1 Episode 11 ("Space"): What if the communication stones had glitched and Young had been unable to switch back to his body after going to the alien ship the second time? How will the Destiny crew deal with aliens amongst them? And what does it really mean to be an alien? Sometimes the definition is only skin deep.  
> _ **Characters** : Everett Young, Tamara Johansen, the Destiny crew  
>  **Author's Notes** : Written for syfybigbang.  
>  **Disclaimer** : I don't own SGU. I wouldn't know what to do with it. Now, Young... Young I'd know what to do with. ;-)  
>  **Thanks for reading! Feedback = Love. ;-)**

**The Best of the Bad Ideas**

  
“Tighter,” he says, nodding at his left leg.

Greer bends down to cinch the strap harder; he grimaces slightly at the pressure.

Scott notices, of course. “Sir! Sir… let me do it,” he pleads.

Young shakes his head. Scott’s desire to take on the toughest jobs himself is familiar to Young – he reminds him a lot of himself, so many years ago. “Lieutenant, it’s not going to happen,” he insists and gives him a level stare, trying to mask his own worries.

“For the record,” Caine pipes up, “I think this is a very bad idea.”

“Yes,” Young quips, “but it’s the best of the bad ideas.”

Caine rolls his eyes in reluctant agreement and looks at Greer and Scott. They nod, and he reaches out for the switch on the communication stones terminal. The device lights up. Caine turns to Young.

“Go,” he says, handing him one of the stones, protecting himself from direct contact with a thick cloth.

Young turns the stone over in his hand, and Caine hastens to add “Colonel, you can always go back in if you don't find her,” just in case.

Young looks up at him and nods. “Okay,” he says, as if quitting was even an option. Caine is a civilian, an IT tech, Young knows all too well, and his life experiences include lots of second chances and starting over after a good night’s sleep.

Young is going into combat, alone, and he knows it.

Greer grasps the end of the last strap as Young struggles to place the stone on the platform – not an easy feat with his arm bound to the chair. He manages, though, and Greer pulls the strap tight with a lightning-quick move.

Young closes his eyes.

He’s used the communication stones many times to go to Earth, always arriving in the same room at Homeworld Command. Usually he ends up in Telford’s body, or one of the technicians guarding the device 24/7, especially if it’s an unscheduled visit.

This is different, though. This time, he has no idea where he will emerge from the not-space and not-time of the transition. It’s a terrifying prospect, but there’s no going back now.

There is the usual brief sensation of falling, of vertigo, of weightlessness, of hearing his own blood rushing through his veins.

He knows he has arrived as he gradually becomes aware of the different gravity, the damp coolness of the air around him, the nauseating smell that reminds him of an old dentist’s office.

He opens his eyes.

He’s back on the alien ship.

***

At first there is no change in what they see. Young’s body is very still, only his eyes are moving. Then he begins to pull at his bonds and makes a strangled hissing sound.

They try to calm him – it – down, without success. The alien appears to panic, it struggles and screams.

The interrogation is going nowhere.

The minutes tick by, and suddenly the impact of weapons fire rocks the Destiny.

“Cut it,” Scott snaps at Caine, and the IT tech turns the platform off.

***

Young emerges from the excruciating pain with a scream, retching and coughing, and he recognizes the sound of his own breathing, hears the panicked and concerned voices around him.

Oh no.

He’s back on the Destiny.

He looks around, blinking in the bright light, confused and disoriented.

“What happened?” His voice sounds hoarse and he tries to clear his throat.

“He’s back,” comes Caine’s voice from his side.

He shakes his head in near-panic. “What just happened?” he repeats, more desperate.

Scott leans into his field of vision, deep concern on his face. “The alien ship is closing in on us,” he says, speaking slowly and clearly, and Young realizes his twenty minutes must have been up and they pulled him back, as agreed.

He was so close…

“Send me back,” he surprises himself saying the words.

Caine jumps and turns the device back on, carefully picking up the stone with the cloth.

“Send me back, now!” There is no quick way to explain, and time is of the essence.

He notices the flustered demeanor in Caine as he hands him the stone back. Greer loosens the strap on his left arm a little, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

“Okay. Good to go,” Caine stutters and steps back.

Young drops the stone on the device, Greer pulls the strap tight and once again he’s falling into the gray nothingness.

***

He can’t breathe.

The pain is back, the utter agony of the transmission device, and he can’t breathe. He’s on the ground, he can feel something wet against the naked back of his legs. He flails his arms, trying to find purchase.

His vision returns.

It’s Rush, kneeling next to him, his hands around his throat, choking him. His vision begins to close in, and now he struggles in earnest, fighting for his life. In a split second he understands that Rush thinks he’s the alien, in the few minutes he was gone the alien must have attacked and Rush is fighting for his own life as well.

“Gloria,” he thinks desperately, hoping Rush will get it through the link, “Gloria. Music.”

And Rush lets him go, an expression of utter horror on his face.

Young gasps for air, reaching for his neck, crying out. The pain is back, boring into his mind, and he screams, but all he manages is a hissing sound, a high-pitched wail, a rasping cough.

He claws at his temple and succeeds in ripping the transmitter off.

The pain subsides instantly, and he rolls over, curling up into a ball.

“Colonel Young?”

A tentative hand on his arm.

“Is it you? You’re back?”

Young pushes against the floor and turns his head.

Rush is squatting next to him. He knocks on the floor. “One tap for yes, two for no. Can you understand me?”

Young pats the floor once.

“Come on.”

Rush pulls him up into a seated position. Young tilts his head back, still trying to catch his breath.

“You okay?”

Young nods, taps on the floor, then draws a circle with his clawed finger and points at Rush.

“Am I okay?”

Young nods again and pats the floor once.

“Well, we’ll see. We gotta get off this ship. We can discuss the rest later.”

Young draws a semi-circle on the floor, and a question mark.

“Do I know where Chloe is?”

One tap.

“I think so. In the few minutes you were gone I got a lot of information through the device, from the alien you swapped bodies with.”

Rush gets up. Young struggles to align the unfamiliar limbs and fails miserably, crashing right back down.

He looks up at Rush who hesitates, then kneels down again.

“I should just leave you here. But you got it easy – they’ll pull you back in a few minutes and you’ll be safe aboard Destiny. Unlike me on that other planet. Or here.”

Young stares, then taps the floor once and points at the entrance to the room.

“Then again, you are a lot more useful to me in your current body. Get the fuck up and let’s go.”

Young finally manages to pull up the pipe he had used to smash the water tank, and he uses it to get himself up off the floor. Rush wanders over to the console and starts pushing buttons.

“Come here and look at this schematic. Chloe has to be in one of these rooms. You need to go first, pretend to be one of them, and signal to me when it’s safe to go. Do you understand?”

Young taps the pipe with a claw.

“All right. Here we go.”

And the door slides open.

***

“That’s enough – we’re under attack, you have to yank him back!”

Scott grabs Caine by the arm and pulls him over to the communication stones terminal.

“Cut the connection! Now!”

Next to him the alien in Young’s body starts to scream and struggle violently, and Greer steps closer, aiming his gun at his chest. Caine hurriedly grasps the cloth and pulls the stone off the device and turns it off.

***

Rush waves Young over to the door.

Young is still unsteady on his alien feet, he holds on to the wall as he carefully looks around the corner. The coast is clear. Young turns back to Rush and points at the pipe he used to smash the water tank.

“Right,” Rush mutters and picks it up.

Young takes a deep breath. The smell is almost gone now, he’s finally gotten used to it.

“Go,” Rush urges him on, and he nods.

Stepping out into the corridor he finds they are alone and he beckons Rush to follow. His steps are unsteady but slowly he’s getting better with the different locomotion of the alien body again. They hurry down the hall, and at the junction at the end Young raises a clawed hand. Rush presses himself flat against the wall while Young pretends to be busy inspecting a pipe connection at the corner.

Three blue aliens pass by, at a fast pace. One of them snarls at Young who makes a clicking noise.

When they’re gone Rush grabs Young’s elbow.

“What the hell did you say to them?”

Young looks at him and turns his palms up. Then he indicates his head and taps on the wall twice.

“You have no idea,” Rush sighs. “Well, it worked. Turn right here, and left at the end of that hallway. Go.”

Young hesitates.

Rush gives him a little shove. “Go!”

***

“Colonel Young?”

“Sir?”

More snarling, hissing and struggling.

Scott turns to Caine. “Turn the damn thing off, Caine,” he yells.

“I – I did, it’s off, see - the light is off, the stone is off,” Caine mutters, all flustered.

Greer gives him a dirty look. “So reset it and do it again!”

“Umm, yeah, okay…”

The Destiny trembles with more weapons fire impact.

“Colonel Young? Matt?” comes Eli’s panicked voice over the radio.

“Coming, Eli,” Scott responds and turns to leave.

“Get him the hell out of there,” he points at Caine. “Greer, you make sure it happens!” And he takes off towards the Apple Core at a run.

***

Shrill alarms are blaring as Rush and Young hurry towards the next room. Finally they find another occupied water tank and Young touches the door control. Rush wipes the condensation off the glass.

“It’s her,” he gasps and Young grabs the pipe from him and begins hitting the tank with all his might.

Inside the tank, Chloe awakens from the noise, and Rush notices her eyes widen in shock and fear. He pushes Young aside and places his hand flat against the glass. Chloe struggles in a panic, and Rush knocks on the glass. Finally Chloe looks at him and places her hand against his. He motions for her to back up and she pushes herself away, towards the back of the tank.

Young hits the tank again, and finally the glass cracks, and then with a sudden crash it shatters and the water bursts out, washing Chloe out with it.

Rush signals Young to back off as he bends down to remove her breathing apparatus. Chloe gasps and coughs. He taps her cheek.

“It's okay. It's okay,” he soothes her. “It's okay. It's okay. We have to go. Here.” He helps her up.

She spots Young standing against the far wall and screams in terror.

“Shh,” he tries to calm her, “It’s Colonel Young – he body-switched with one of the aliens.”

He turns to Young. “Do something,” he hisses.

Young waves with both hands, then places them over his eyes, his ears and his mouth.

Rush rolls his eyes. “Come on,” he mutters, pulling Chloe up off the floor.

The ship is rocked by heavy impacts again.

“Where are we going,” Chloe asks, her voice shaky and hoarse.

Rush looks at Young. Young bumps his fists together, then sticks out his spindly arms to the side, moving them up and down.

“Fighter bay,” Rush answers her. He points at Young. “You first. Left, left, right, left, right, two levels down. Got it?”

Young taps his palm with one claw and moves to the door.

Rush pulls Chloe behind himself and picks up the pipe again. Young activates the door controls, and they move quietly, leaving three sets of wet footprints.

***

“Again – nothing.” Caine’s voice is panicked. “I don’t know what else to do!”

Greer turns to the alien. “Shut the fuck up,” he yells, and the alien stops its screaming for a few moments. Greer reaches for the cloth. “Gimme that thing,” he demands and Caine passes the cloth to him. Greer makes quick work of gagging the alien’s mouth, stifling all but the loudest screams.

“All right, you better shut up now or I’ll pop you one, you hear me?”

The alien shirks back and resumes its panicked struggling.

Dunning pokes his head in the door. “Greer, we need you.”

“Well, I can’t leave him alone here,” Greer barks. “Get me a backup, now!”

Dunning ducks back out and returns after a minute with two other marines.

“Keep the guns on him,” he says. “It looks like Colonel Young, but it’s definitely not him. Do not under any circumstances let him go.”

And he follows Dunning to his battle station.

***

They reach the fighter bay unnoticed. They pass several other aliens but Young hisses at them and they hurry on without giving them a second look. Rush walks up to one of the few closed doors.

“This one,” he says and Young moves to open the door.

“Oh no, no, no,” he says, “You are SO not coming with us.”

“We can’t just leave him here,” Chloe protests and Rush grabs her by the arms.

“Chloe, he’ll switch back to his own body as soon as they cut the connection. He’ll be perfectly safe until then.”

Young slaps the door twice.

“Then why haven’t they pulled him back yet,” Chloe insists.

Young mimics picking something from his palm and setting it aside, then waves his claws across his neck.

Chloe turns to Rush. “He says the communication stones aren’t disconnecting,” she pleads, “We have to take him with us!”

Rush shakes his head. “What if he switches back mid-flight?”

Young steps closer and crosses his wrists, tapping them together.

“We tie him up. He wants us to tie him up!”

One tap.

Rush bites his lip as another impact rocks the ship and nearly knocks them off their feet. Young reaches for the controls and the door slides open. Chloe ducks into the small chamber beyond and seconds later she tosses out several sturdy-looking straps.

Young crosses his wrists again and holds them out to Rush.

“I’m going to regret this,” Rush mutters and quickly ties Young’s arms together. Young twists his arms and nods, then holds up a foot.

“No – get in first,” Rush replies, then tosses the straps into the chamber. “Chloe, tie him down in there!”

Young climbs in and settles into one of the narrow chairs. Chloe ties his legs and neck down with a speed that surprises him. By the time he enters the craft Young can’t move at all anymore.

Rush closes the hatch and moves forward, quickly scanning the controls.

“Well, here goes nothing,” he sighs.

And they’re out there, in space.

***

“They’re… they’re retreating,” Scott gapes.

“All of them, except that one,” Greer observes.

Scott shuts the shuttle engines down and they hurry back into the ship.

A grinding noise above them makes them stop in their tracks. Greer aims his gun at the spot in the ceiling where a large sparkling red ring appears. The stench of burning metal wafts down and then the thick disk goes crashing to the floor.

“What in the hell –“ Greer whispers. And then a pair of legs appears in the hole and seconds later Chloe drops down, landing in a heap on top of the hull piece.

“Chloe?”

“Matt,” she shrieks at the top of her lungs and throws herself into his arms, sobbing hysterically.

Greer grins and looks up when a second pair of legs appears, and to his great surprise and shock it’s Rush that comes through.

“Doctor Rush?”

“Yes, yes, it’s me,” he mumbles and tries to get up.

Greer shakes his head. “Colonel Young said you were dead.”

“Oh, did he?” Rush gasps, the breath knocked out of him. “Did he say how it happened?”

“Rock slide,” Greer says.

Rush scoffs. “Well, obviously he was wrong again.”

“He’s still on that ship, looking for Chloe,” Greer grunts, his anger resurfacing.

“Nope. He’s right there.” Rush points up.

“What?”

“Yes. We brought his alien body with us. He’s – a little tied up at the moment, so someone needs to go up there and get him out.”

“Shit.” Greer grabs his radio. “Dunning, James, Marsden, get to the corridor leading to the shuttle. Bring a ladder and rope.”

“On my way,” James’ voice responds.

***

Greer is the first one up into the alien craft.

“Whoa,” he drawls, “That is one ugly motherfucker you brought back.”

Young makes clicking noises and nods his head.

“Is that you, Colonel?”

Young nods again and taps a claw onto the armrest.

“One means yes,” Greer remembers. “Jeez, I’m sorry, Colonel. Are you okay?”

One tap.

“All right. I’m gonna untie you. You’re gonna jump down through that hole and then James is gonna tie you right back up. Ready, Sir?”

One tap.

It takes him a while to undo Chloe’s non-standard knots and he swears softly under his breath, but at last Young is free. He raises his hand to his temple and Greer smiles broadly, returning the salute. Young lowers himself gingerly through the hole and drops to the floor where James stands ready with several ropes.

“Sir,” she says, her eyes large and a little frightened.

Young holds his arms out to her, crossing them at the wrists. James takes a deep breath and quickly ties them together, while Dunning shudders and ties his ankles with a short length of rope between them.

“Good god,” Scott whispers, holding Chloe tightly against him.

“It’s him,” Chloe sniffles. “What happened with the stones?”

Scott shrugs. “Nobody seems to know. They can’t sever the connection.”

“So one of the aliens is still in his body?”

“Yep.”

She shivers in his arms as they watch them lead the spindly alien away, several guns trained on him.

“Come on, let’s get you into some dry clothes. You, too, doc. TJ should look at both of you first.”

He accompanies them to the infirmary.

TJ is overjoyed to see them and soon they are on their way to their quarters.

Young is led to an empty room and strapped to a chair again.

***

“Well, what are we going to do?” Camile crosses her arms.

They sit around a table in the mess hall, quite subdued despite their narrow escape.

“Does anybody really know how those damn things work? There, I didn’t think so.” Scott shakes his head. “So presumably repair is out of the question.”

“We should all give it a try,” Brody suggests. “Just the connect and disconnect. See if a different genetic signature makes a difference.”

“We could try the recharging plate,” Riley raises his hand. “Maybe its power source croaked.”

Eli nods. “Maybe there’s a time limit, like the 38 minutes for the open Stargate.”

“I’m sure if we destroy the terminal and the stone it will take care of the problem. But then we’ll be completely cut off.” Lisa shakes her head.

“Well, for now they’re stuck in each other’s body,” TJ sums it up. “We have to make sure that they’re reasonably comfortable. They may have to stay that way for a while.”

Rush nods. “What’s the plan?”

She purses her lips. “We need to rotate watch teams 24/7. We have to figure out how the alien’s body – Colonel Young – functions. What he needs to eat. How to eliminate body waste. How to clean him up.”

“We’d better take preventive measures with the alien in the Colonel’s body,” James realizes. “Strip him down before he makes a total mess. Wrap him in sheets or something that is easy to clean. Big diapers, like Franklin.”

“Oh, gross,” Chloe gags.

“Well, it’s true. And then we have to figure out how to communicate with both of them.”

“One tap for yes, two taps for no,” Greer pipes up. “We can give the Colonel a keyboard. He can type things.”

“Yeah, but what about Blueberry over there,” Eli muses. “We don’t even know its name.”

TJ sighs. “There’s a lot to think about. For now let’s get the clothing issue taken care of, on the Colonel’s body, and try to feed him. At least with him we know how to keep the body alive.”

They divide up into teams and set up a rotation. TJ makes sure that neither Chloe nor Rush have to deal with the alien body. She figures they’ve been traumatized enough. To their credit, both of them volunteer to help.

“I’ve changed plenty of diapers,” Chloe says as they leave. “Just never on a grown man.”

Vanessa squeezes her shoulder. “It’s not that different, Chloe. Everything’s just bigger. You get used to it pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, but it’s the Colonel!”

“Look, I clean Franklin up every day, and sometimes he does have accidents. It’s just something you do, something that needs to be done. And it’s just his body anyway. He won’t even know you saw him.”

“Okay,” Chloe says. “I’ll help. If you show me what to do. I’m guessing this guy won’t be quite as docile as Dr. Franklin.”

Vanessa chuckles. “No, you’re right. It’s definitely going to be a group effort. I mean, it’s sentient, all right, so sooner or later it’s going to figure out that cleanups are a good thing, and then it will be easier.”

And they’re off to get a stack of spare sheets from some of the unused living quarters.

***

James and Greer get right to work stripping Young’s body while Chloe waits outside. The alien resists with surprising strength, and they have to get several more helpers just to hold him down.

They get lucky – no accident yet.

***

TJ approaches the cell in which Young is held with some trepidation. The alien body is truly a sight to behold, frightening and pitiful at the same time. He seems to be asleep, his body slumped in the chair as she looks through the window. She closes her eyes and tries to calm her breathing as her heart hammers wildly in her chest.

He jostles awake as the door cycles open.

She stands there, staring at him, and he sits perfectly still. His eyes follow her as she walks into the room. 

“Hey,” she says.

He lowers his face, then tilts his head and looks up at her, and the movement strikes her as so typically Young that she can’t help but smile.

He utters two short hisses – maybe an attempt to say her name.

TJ turns to Marsden. “Could you give us some privacy? Watch from outside, maybe?”

“Sure,” Marsden says and leaves.

She kneels down before Young and gently places her hand on his knee.

“Nobody knows what happened. The stones terminal just won’t disengage. We don’t know how long you’ll be stuck like this.”

He looks at her and gives a brief nod.

“Do you have any idea what these creatures might eat?”

He taps the armrest twice.

“Okay. We’ll have to try different things, then. You’ll be a guinea pig for a while, but we do need to find something to keep this body alive. Any ideas about how they eliminate waste?”

Two taps.

TJ sighs.

“I suspected as much. We’ll have to take off the suit and see what might be there that looks familiar.”

Another tap.

“Oh boy, this is awkward.”

Two taps.

“You don’t mind?”

A short pause. Then two taps.

“I can get Greer to do that, if you want. He volunteered. He’s very concerned about you. You want me to get him?”

Two taps.

“Okay, not Greer.”

He looks at her, tilts his head, give two brief hisses.

“Me?”

One tap.

She blushes.

“All right, if that’s what you want. I know it’s you in there. And it’s not like we haven’t seen all there is of each other. We’ll figure it out together. How’s that sound?”

One tap.

“Let me get my stuff, then. I need to check on your human body first. Greer and James got it out of your uniform and into some sheets – luckily everything was still clean. Becker will make sure it’s all getting washed properly, just in case. Chloe actually volunteered to help change diapers. Everybody is really pitching in.”

Young nods slowly.

“You’re welcome.”

***

“I’ll be there the whole time,” Greer assures TJ as she’s about to enter the room with the alien in Young’s body. He’s been moved out of the Communications Room into a more secure cell.

“Let’s do this,” she says, and he cycles the door.

The alien looks at her, wild-eyed, frightened.

She smiles and holds up her hands.

“It’s all right, I’m not going to hurt you.”

She pulls up a chair and sits down. Young’s body looks strangely regal, draped in the metallic-looking sheets that came with the Destiny. She has a hard time not breaking into tears, the situation is so absurd, and she realizes it’s not just Young’s mind she fell in love with, back on Icarus.

It’s his body, too.

And seeing him tied up like this, his wide, panicked eyes, his harsh breath, it cuts her to the quick.

“We’ll do everything we can to keep you comfortable,” she soothes. “You’ll never be alone. We know what to feed you and how to take care of you. And hopefully, we can learn to communicate with you as well.”

She reaches out and slowly, deliberately, places her hand on his. He recoils in terror and makes a low keening sound.

“I know you’re scared,” she whispers. “I’m scared, too.”

And suddenly the struggling stops and he stares at her, then at her hand.

She smiles. “See, it’s not so bad. Would you like some water?”

Greer waves at the door and Becker walks in, carrying a bottle and holding out a cup to her.

“Thanks,” she says, points at the cup and addresses the alien.

“Drink?”

She lifts the cup to her lips. The alien rasps something.

“Maybe you don’t drink like we do. Here, watch.”

She turns sideways and drinks from the cup. Becker refills it.

“Try, okay?”

She holds the cup to his lips and tilts it slightly. Most of the water spills, but some of it ends up in his mouth. He makes a soft noise, gurgling slightly.

“More?”

He opens his mouth, and she gives him a little bit more.

“Good job. You did great, really. Becker here has got more for you.”

She waves him over, careful to keep her movements calm and even, and then she watches as the alien accepts a few more sips of water from Becker, then turns his head away.

She gently places her hand on the alien’s – Young’s – forearm. “I’ll be gone for a little while, okay? I’ll be back, though. This is Darren Becker. He’s going to stay with you a bit longer. We need to keep you hydrated. We’ll try some food later.”

She smiles reassuringly and slowly backs up and leaves the room.

Outside the cell she collapses into tears.

“Man, you were great in there,” Greer says. “Look how it stopped fighting.”

TJ nods.

“I think it’s just really scared.”

“I’m having a hard time being nice to it. They did attack us and take hostages, after all.”

“Well, maybe this one is different. We can’t trust it, of course, but we need to make sure the Colonel’s body is well provided for. And we can only do that if we treat the alien inside him well, so that it cooperates.”

***

Young watches as they change shifts around him. His back is starting to ache – there isn’t a lot of padding on his alien body. He tries to listen to himself, what he sounds like, what he feels like, to think himself into different areas of his body, what little he can observe.

He tries making sounds, but so far he’s only managed a variety of clicks, hisses and snarls, a soft purr and a few high-pitched screams. He can utter a few vowels, a few consonants, but the unfamiliar muscle in his mouth doesn’t seem to be able to do what he wants it to do.

He doesn’t feel hungry or thirsty – yet – and he suspects that the suit probably serves as some sort of life support system. Still, there are no new reserves, and sooner or later he will run out of whatever is still stored in there.

As time drags on he tries to get some sleep. Almost everybody comes to see him at some point or other, they talk about what’s going on with the ship or just to keep him company.

Eli rigs a small laptop close to his right hand so he can type with one claw.

He’s tired.

Eli looks at the screen.

SLEEP

“You wanna get some rest, Colonel?”

One tap.

“All right. Brody will rig a flight attendant call button for you so you can holler if you need anything. He’ll be here in a few hours.”

A slow nod.

“Anytime.”

***

Chloe has a nightmare.

She’s pulled out of her bed by a blinding white beam of light, she can’t breathe, and then she falls into the water tank. She tries to surface, but the ceiling extends all the way down to the water’s surface. She sees her mother standing in front of the tank.

She wakes up with a panicked scream.

***

Rush is watching Young in the alien’s body. He keeps a safe distance from the door but somehow he has the feeling that Young knows he’s there anyway.

There is an ugly urge in him to go in there and squeeze the life out of the man who tried to kill him. If the alien body dies, so will Young, and so will his human body with the alien consciousness. It would be over in a few minutes. And they would all be better off.

“Doctor Rush,” comes Camile’s voice from behind him. He turns to look at her.

“How is he?”

Rush gives a bitter laugh. “Sleeping, I think, or at least pretending to be.”

Camile leans against the wall and gives him a level stare.

Rush gestures at the door. “The Colonel is dangerous – even like that. Maybe especially like that.”

“We need to do something about that,” she agrees.

Rush nods. “I tried.”

Camile checks the hallway before leaning in and whispering “I know.”

“Damn near killed me for it.”

They contemplate the situation for a moment. Then Camile pushes away from the wall. “Next time will be different,” she says.

Rush squints at her.

“If there is a next time,” he adds. “They might be stuck like this forever.”

“He can’t be trusted – in his own body or like this.”

“I agree. But for now we’ll have to wait and see. Euthanasia is always an option.”

She looks at him, horrified.

“You wouldn’t!”

He shakes his head. “No, of course not. It would make me no better than him. But he may get to a point when it might happen. All that military bravado, and his very obvious death wish. Nobody would blame him.”

Camile chews her lower lip.

“He’s helpless right now. Unless he wants it-“

“I was helpless, too, left behind on that planet.”

“But you made it.”

Rush scoffs again. “Yes. And for what! Look at this mess.”

“Would you do it, if he asks for it?”

Rush is silent for a long time. Suddenly he thinks of Gloria, of how she begged him to put a pillow over her face, to end it, and how he wasn’t even there with her when she finally died.

“No,” he whispers. And he leaves, a haunted look on his face.

Camile remains behind. She looks through the window in the door. Young is awake and looking at her. He tilts his head and then looks down at his hand.

She walks away, deeply disturbed.

***

“Colonel?”

TJ taps Young’s knee. He wakes up with a yelp and immediately pulls at his restraints.

“It’s me, Colonel,” she says quietly. He seems to calm down and looks at her. His piercing blue eyes make her shiver and she sits back on her heels. Young takes a deep breath, reaches for the keyboard and taps a few keys.

SORRY

She smiles and lays her hand over his. “It’s all right,” she says. “I couldn’t tell whether you were asleep or just lost in thought.”

He makes a purring noise that sounds soothing, even submissive or placating to her.

“I had a look at the suits that Chloe and Rush wore when they came back. Looks like there was quite a bit of plumbing in there – I bet they weren’t very comfortable. Several cup-type attachments for the collection of fluids and solids.”

REMEMBER

“Do they remember anything?”

One tap.

She shakes her head. “Neither Rush nor Chloe remember being put into the suit. Maybe they were knocked out, maybe some sort of anesthesia. I could check them over for puncture marks, but right now that seems a pretty low priority.”

MYBODY

TJ sighs. “Your body is fine. We are keeping it well hydrated. So far the alien has been pretty good about drinking water. We’ll try some protein mix in a little while. Are you hungry at all?”

Two taps.

“No need to play the hero here, Colonel.”

Two taps.

“Thirsty?”

Two taps.

“It’s been almost a day. We should try to get some fluids into you at least.”

Young types: LSS

TJ frowns. “LSS? As in… Oh! Life Support System?”

One tap.

“In the suit? You have reserves in the suit?”

MAYBE

“All right, that would make sense.” She gently runs her fingers over the collar and the valves in it. “So that’s what these are for? And the – um, barbels are, what, for control or supply? It looks like they are supposed to attach there. Did you pull them off?”

RUSH

“Right, Rush said he almost strangled you. Well, he thought it was the alien. They must have come off then.”

One tap.

“Well, I suppose I could reconnect them, but you’re going to run out of supplies sooner or later, so we still need to know how they work.”

Young nods.

“Okay, here’s one way to find out. I’m going to have to untie you to get the suit off, just a little at a time.”

One tap.

“I need some backup, though, in case you switch back and go nuts. I brought Lt. James. Is that okay?”

One tap.

“Well, then.” She waves at the door and Vanessa enters in full battle gear. “Sir,” she acknowledges him.

He nods at her and makes a clicking noise.

“I’m fine, Colonel, thanks for asking,” she responds and TJ turns to her in surprise.

“You understood that?”

“No, of course not. But it’s what he would say now.”

TJ smiles and reaches for Young’s left wrist, loosening the buckle on the straps. Young sighs and flexes his clawed fingers. Then he gingerly touches his face, his neck, his chest. TJ moves around to loosen the other strap around his wrist, then the one around his neck and chest. He twists carefully from side to side, then rolls his head.

“Getting a little stiff, I suppose,” TJ surmises. Young taps his palm with one finger.

“All right, lean forward, please, so I can see where that thing opens.”

Young crosses his arms over his knees and does as told. TJ pulls out her little pen light and examines the back seam of the suit.

“Looks like some kind of magnetic zipper, like on the others,” she says and puts the light away. She grasps the edges of the collar and gently pulls them apart.

Young moans and she stops. “Does this hurt?”

Young hesitates, then taps once.

“You want me to stop?”

Two taps.

“All right, I’ll be careful.”

She separates the seam down to his lower back, then gently peels it back over his left shoulder.

His skin is dry, wrinkly and pruney, with a blue tint. Young is breathing hard.

“You still okay?”

One tap.

TJ pulls the suit down on his arm, then does the same on the right side.

“Sit up for me, please.”

He groans as she helps him to lean back. Vanessa steps closer. TJ grasps the edge of the collar and pulls it forward. She can see four thin flexible tubes attached to the backs of the valves and snaking lower on the alien’s body. Two thicker ones pierce the skin close to his collarbones. Young whimpers and she places her hand against his cheek.

“You’re doing great, Sir,” she praises him. “Give me two taps if it’s too much.”

She pulls the suit down over his arms.

“There are liquids in the tubes,” she remarks. “I can’t tell whether they’re inputs or outputs, though.”

“I got a sharpie,” Vanessa says, roots around in her tac vest and hands the pen to her.

“Good idea. I’m gonna mark these levels on the tubes, Sir, and we’ll check in a little while to see if they’ve gone up or down, and then we can at least determine what’s what. We can’t assume they’ll do the same things as in Chloe’s or Dr. Rush’s suits, so we’ll just have to analyze what we can.”

One tap.

“Now those two thicker ones…” She bends her head and places her ear close to the valves.

“Bingo – auxiliary breathing apparatus. Inhale on the left, exhale on the right.”

TJ reaches for her radio.

“Lisa, come in please.”

“This is Lisa.”

“Lisa, I need four syringes and IV and air line tubing in Colonel Young’s room. Can you get them to me, please?”

“Be right there,” Lisa answers and TJ smiles at Young.

“I’ll take some samples, see what I can learn. It seems taking the suit off is going to be too much, so with a little luck we can just maintain this body through the external suit valves.”

Young leans his head back and taps the armrest once.

Within minutes Lisa arrives with the syringes and tubing. TJ cuts the thin tubing into four equal lengths and inserts one into each of the four valves, then attaches the syringes to pull a sample of the liquids. Next she marks their levels on the tubes.

“Okay, Colonel, we’re done here. We have to wait a couple of hours now, to see if the levels change. You need me to pull the suit back up?”

Two taps.

“All right. Try to get some rest. Sorry, but I’ll have to tie you up again.”

One tap.

“I can stay with him,” Lisa offers. “Dunning is right outside and Dr. Inman is already waiting for you in the infirmary. I took the liberty to call her – I figured you’d need a chemistry person.”

TJ smiles. “Thanks, Lisa.”

Young cranes his neck and types again.

GOODBOY

“Yes, I know you will be. Take a nap, Sir. This could take a while.”

One tap.

  
***  


“Is he gonna stay tied down like this the whole time?” Volker ponders Young’s body.

“That’s what the doctor ordered,” Greer confirms.

“Then why don’t we cut a hole in the chair and put a bucket underneath? Wouldn’t that make the cleanup a lot easier?”

Everyone stares at him.

“I’m just sayin’.”

“No, no, you’re absolutely right,” Brody says. “It’s not like he can move around, like Franklin. He might as well be stuck on the pot.”

Greer grins. “I have to admit, that’s fucking brilliant. There’s hope for you yet, man.”

Volker turns beet red, but the others have already sprung into action. Within a short period of time they have lugged another chair to the room and Brody starts cutting through the seat. 

Chloe wanders by.

“Oh,” she exclaims in delight, “A potty chair! Who came up with that idea?”

Volker blushes. “Umm, I did.”

She gives him a quick hug. “You’re my hero today,” she smiles and gives him a quick peck on the cheek.

Moving Young’s body into the new chair turns into a major wrestling match, but they manage.

“There. Sound engineering. Form follows function. Practicality wins again,” Brody beams.

***

“… So the white liquid is very high in raw proteins and sugars. I would imagine that this is the food intake.” Dr. Inman holds up the small vial and shakes it gently. “It looks pretty much like what we’ve been eating. We could try to give him a little drop orally, see if he has any kind of adverse reaction.”

TJ sits down, sighing heavily.

“What we need is a full set of x-rays and some contrast medium, so we can see how his digestive tract works.”

“I agree,” Inman says with sympathy in her voice, “But at the moment this is all we have. You could probably pull the suit off a little more, see where the tubes end up.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. It just seemed really painful to him, and the Colonel has a pretty high pain threshold otherwise. These creatures may live their entire lives in those suits. Maybe they have the hoses implanted at a young age and then they just go with that.”

“Well, we may never know. Camile says she wants to have a crack at talking to the alien – maybe she can find out more.”

TJ nods.

“Now this blue stuff-“

“Oh good god, that reeks something fierce.”

“Yep. Whew. Anyways – lots of dead cells in here, always a good indicator for a waste stream.”

“All right – we got the food and the poop line. What about the other two?”

“The clear liquid is basically water – some amino acids, some sugars, a little salt and other electrolytes.”

“Like an energy drink?”

“Yeah, pretty close. A weak one – and it might just be for flavor. Who knows?”

“That makes the pink stuff the pee, right?”

Inman smiles. “I think that’s a pretty safe assumption.”

“Fantastic. I can make gravity feed bags for the intakes and collection bags for the waste. Good thing we have a case of Ziplocs, and we reuse everything here.”

She gets up and wipes her eyes.

“You okay?”

TJ nods. “I just can’t stand the thought of him being trapped in there, and he can’t even help us.”

Inman squeezes her shoulder.

“But he is helping us. He’s done everything you asked, and he’s keeping it together. Sometimes, that’s the best you can hope for.”

***

“Hi, I’m Camile Wray. TJ says you’ve been good about accepting water, so we’re going to try a little bit of food. I’m told this is pretty close to what you normally eat, just not how you eat it.”

Camile sits down in front of the alien in Young’s body. He struggles for a while and hisses and spits at her, but she just sits and waits him out.

“I can out-stubborn you, believe me,” she smiles, keeping her voice light and friendly.

“Now, about the food. Here is how you get it down – same way as the water. Like this.”

She turns sideways and demonstrates. The alien watches with a blank stare. She toasts him with the cup.

“There, see? It’s not good, I won’t lie, but it has kept us alive thus far. Wanna try some?”

She carefully holds the cup to his mouth and tilts it a little, just enough to cover his lips. He snarls and gags, but some of it does end up in his mouth and Camile chalks one up for herself.

It takes a long time to feed him, but after a while he’s more willing to accept the food, and she praises him profusely like a particularly difficult and finicky child.

Shortly thereafter the new chair is called into service for the first time, and it works like a charm.

***

Chloe is having another nightmare. 

She is walking down one of Destiny’s corridors and sees a strong light shining through the porthole of a door. She steps closer and sees herself approaching a brightly lit hole in the ceiling. She screams a warning, but the other her is drawn up into the blinding glare.

Then she’s in the tank, and across the room she can see other people, trapped like her: her dad, her mom, others she can’t recognize. There are blue aliens wearing black Air Force uniforms. One of them hisses at her.

She wakes up with a scream.

Matt tries to calm her down, he doesn’t understand, and his gentle attempts at soothing her just infuriate her more.

She gets up and gets dressed.

Walking down the hallway she has an eerie sense of déjà vu, and as she passes by the mess hall she notices Rush sitting there at one of the tables.

He nods at her. “Same dream?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

She sits down and looks at him. “What did they do to us?”

Rush shakes his head. “I don't remember everything.”

“Yeah, me neither.” She draws circles on the table with her finger. ”Maybe that's a good thing.”

He shrugs. She turns and checks if anybody’s there.

“Everyone thinks we're safe,” she whispers. “They think that they'll never find us again. We're not safe, are we?”

Rush looks at her. “No,” he says simply.

“They’ll be back.”

***

Camile has lined up a few people in the alien’s quarters.

She points at her chest.

“Camile,” she says.

Then she places her hand on Becker’s chest.

“Darren.”

Then she introduces Ronald Greer, Vanessa James, Dale Volker, Adam Brody and Matthew Scott.

The alien fidgets and snarls ill-temperedly.

Camile sighs and starts over, always placing her hand on each person.

“Camile. Darren. Ronald. Vanessa. Dale. Adam. Matthew.”

The alien cocks its head. She repeats the names. Then she points at its chest.

“Krr-tk,” it spits out.

“Kyrrtik?”

“Krr-tk.”

Camile smiles.

“Everybody? Meet Kyrrtik.”

***

Young is dozing. Lisa is asleep over the book she has been reading to him.

He wills himself back to consciousness and watches her for a while. His back hurts, and he’s a little dizzy. He should probably eat something soon, but he isn’t sure if that’s really it.

Lisa blinks and swallows, then notices he’s looking at her.

“Colonel?”

“Ssa,” he responds.

“Hey,” she smiles. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”

He taps on the keyboard. Lisa hurries over to read the screen.

PAIN

“You’re hurting? Where?”

BACK

“Oh dear. Yeah, I can tell there’s not a lot of padding on this body. You must be getting sore by now.”

One tap.

Lisa pulls up her radio.

“TJ, come in please.”

“This is TJ – what’s up, Lisa?”

“Colonel Young says he’s hurting. His back is sore, probably.”

“I’m on my way.”

Lisa turns to Young, her features thoughtful.

“My grandma was in a convalescent home for a long time. She was bedridden, and one of the biggest problems was the bedsores she developed. You know what they did to fix it?”

Two taps.

“Beanbags. See, those little styrofoam beads won’t develop any pressure points, and they shift easily.”

She suddenly beams at him.

“We have some styrofoam blocks in the packing crates, from the evacuation. If I unravel a few and stuff them into a pillow, that might just do the trick.”

He tries to smile and then taps the armrest once.

TJ enters with a tub full of bags and tubing.

Lisa jumps up excitedly.

“I have an idea on how to solve the sore bottom problem.”

TJ sets the tub down. “Do tell.”

“A beanbag! I’ll go and make one right now. Be back in a jiffy!”

And she runs out the door.

***

“Apparently his name is Kyrrtik. He keeps saying that whenever Camile points at him.”

Eli shrugs. “That could mean what his race is called, or ‘Get your mitts off me’, or ‘Fuck you’.”

Chloe shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. He gets all excited when someone else says it.”

“I can’t believe you’re that interested, Chloe.”

“I got nothing else to do. And I promised I’d help out. And I’m really in no mood to help out with the Colonel. That body just creeps me out.”

“They both creep me out,” Eli mutters.

Chloe nods. “I don’t blame you. Still, what can we do? I mean, we all want them to switch back, but then what do we do with Kyrrtik?”

Eli has no answer for her.

***

Rush is sitting in the observation lounge, whittling.

It’s not something he’s ever considered before, but right now he feels safer with a weapon of some sort on him, and he’s found a few pieces of wood from a crate in one of the storage rooms. At first he was just randomly filing off splinters, and then it became something else.

A knight of a chess game.

Crude, yes. But perhaps worth pursuing. People leave him alone when he’s whittling. Maybe they’re afraid he might accidentally cut himself. Truthfully, he’s done that a few times, but not so bad that he couldn’t handle it himself.

And it gets him away from the others.

His chest hurts.

And he’s scared.

***

TJ closes the door.

Young hangs his head.

“Hey,” she says softly. “It’s okay to say you’re hurting. We don’t want to damage this body, so you need to let us know if something doesn’t feel right.”

One tap.

She kneels down next to him and lays a hand on his arm.

“We figured out what’s in the tubes, and it turns out we have acceptable substitutes. At least we think so. May I do a little test on you?”

One tap.

“Okay. Here is some of the protein mix from the mess hall. Just one drop, all right? We’ll see how this body can handle it.”

“Rrrah,” he says and opens his mouth. 

TJ gives him a little mix from a syringe. He smacks his lips and purrs.

“So far so good. Let me check on the levels in the tubes, and then we can pull the suit back up.”

She uses her pen light to check on the markings.

“Yep, we were right. White and clear have gone down, blue and pink have gone up. Quite a bit actually. I’d say we’re just in time for a refill.”

He hisses softly and she gently pulls the suit back up over his shoulders and then marks the valves accordingly. Young sighs with relief as the closes the seam in the back.

“Better?”

One tap.

“Great. Now, I’m going to hook up the collection bags, and then we wait a while and see if the protein mix is going to work. Then we can set up a simple gravity feed and you’re all good to go.”

One tap.

She gets to work, slipping the ends of two tubes over the valves and running the other ends into bags in the tub. Soon after she’s done pink and blue liquids appear in the tubes. She smiles, satisfied with her setup.

She notices Young is slumped over in his chair and she kneels down in front of him again, gently raising his chin to make him look at her.

And it shocks her to the core when she sees the sadness in his eyes, which suddenly don’t seem so alien any more.

***

Destiny drops out of FTL and the gate dials. Matthew Scott lines up an away team. The Stargate is very close to a large lake, and so they hurry to fill as many water containers as they can, dial back and toss them through. They manage almost a dozen dialing cycles and acquire a large amount of water.

Everyone available is lugging containers back and forth, and Eli’s kino sled comes in very handy.

Suddenly an alarm goes off in the Control Interface Room.

“Oh my god, they’re back.”

Eli frantically reaches for his radio.

“Matt? Doctor Rush? They’re back. They just appeared on our sensors.”

“How much longer until we jump into FTL?”

Riley checks the countdown clock. “About 10 minutes.”

Scott bites his lip.

“All right. Recall the offworld team.”

Riley nods and dials out.

The away team dials back immediately and they come tumbling through, dragging the last few containers.

Vanessa removes her helmet. “What are they doing?” she pants.

“Nothing yet,” Riley eyes the clock.

They all feel the impact on the shields.

“They’re firing on us,” Eli shrieks. “What do I do?”

“Nothing, Eli,” Rush’s voice comes over the radio. “Divert everything we’ve got to the shields. Firing the weapons will only weaken it.”

“How did they find us?” Riley looks deeply disturbed.

“We have one of their people,” Scott ponders. “They probably want him back.”

“Maybe the alien works like a beacon? Like a tracking device?”

“Two minutes.”

They all stare at the clock.

Destiny jumps.

***

“Your people want you back,” Camile tells Kyrrtik. “Believe me, we’d rather see you go as well, but not in this body. I’m sure you’d rather have your own back, too.”

Kyrrtik struggles in his bindings.

Camile suddenly feels sorry for him. At least Young is among his own kind.

Kyrrtik has nobody.

And so she stays with him until they’re safely back in FTL.

He tilts his head back and wails.

And this time she knows exactly what he’s saying.

***

“Oh my god,” TJ whispers. When they both sense the impact of weapons fire she holds him, his chin on her shoulder.

Young is tense but does not fight her.

And when they feel the shift back to FTL he finally relaxes into her embrace.

She pulls back after some time as he avoids her gaze.

“Screw this,” she mutters, and loosens the straps holding him down, untying his chest and legs.

He cries out as she helps him to get up. She has to support him as he’s too weak to stand.

Slowly she lowers him to the ground and settles down behind him, careful not to disconnect any of the hoses.

She holds him like that for a long time, and he falls asleep in her arms.

***

He’s got a rook, a knight and a queen finished.

He has so much work to do, but oddly enough the physical activity calms his nerves and distracts him from the fear of the aliens’ next return.

Rush knows all too well it will happen again soon.

***

“You can’t just untie him,” Volker whispers. “What if they switch back now?”

TJ looks up.

“He was in pain. And now he’s asleep. It’s my call.”

Volker relents and leaves quietly, passing Lisa Park on his way out.

“Careful,” he whispers. “He’s out of his chair.”

Lisa holds up the pillow.

He nods. “Go on in. He’s sleeping.”

She looks through the porthole and sees TJ holding the spindly blue creature, rocking him gently and stroking his head. She turns away.

“It can wait.”

  
***

He sits on a bed in front of her. She listens to his heart on his back, his chest. She checks the injury on the back of his head, now well on its way to healing. He looks straight ahead as she shines her penlight in one eye, then the other. He watches her put the light back into her kit.

“You are so beautiful,” he says.

She gives him a stern look.

“Don’t,” she warns him and reaches for his wrist to check his pulse.

He turns his hand over and takes hers.

“I’m sorry. I never mean to hurt you,” he says softly.

He watches her struggle with herself, fighting an impulse to run, to give in, and then she looks at him, tears in her eyes.

She reaches for his shoulder and pulls him towards her as she touches her lips to his.

He moans as she deepens the kiss, holding his head, stroking his back.

The world shifts, and he opens his eyes.

He looks up into her face, and he knows it’s the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen.

She smiles at him, touching his cheek.

And then she places a gentle kiss on his forehead.

He closes his eyes again.

***

Eli sets up his laptop in front of Kyrrtik.

“Got a little slideshow for you, Blueberry,” he points at the screen. “Ms Wray wants to know more about your kind, so Chloe came up with this idea.”

He hits the enter key and the screen shows a deciduous forest. Eli points at it.

“This look familiar?”

Kyrrtik snarls and pulls on his restraints.

“How about this?” A desert view.

Kyrrtik somehow manages to look annoyed and angry as Eli steps through his slideshow: a major city, a swamp, a small village, a jungle, a savannah view, mountains, a volcano, a glacier, a sunset over the ocean.

The alien makes a soft cooing noise and tilts his head.

“Ocean? You guys are aquatic?”

Eli quickly selects another folder with beaches and ocean views.

Kyrrtik gets very quiet and just looks at the images.

“I think we have a winner,” Eli mutters. He points at the screen again.

The alien stares openmouthed.

It makes Eli sad.

***

Young sleeps for several hours. TJ stays with him, having gently lowered him to the floor. Lisa hands her the cushion for his head and sneaks out again to find a blanket.

He’s dreaming, TJ can tell. His head rolls from side to side, arms and legs twitching erratically. Soft moans escape his throat, and TJ lets it run its course, keeping the feeder lines safe.

Suddenly he jerks awake, panting hard.

“It’s okay,” she says, placing a hand on his chest. He raises his left hand, then drops it again. TJ smiles sadly. “Yep – still trapped in there. I’m so sorry. We still have no idea what to do. So far everything we tried has done exactly nothing. But at least you got some sleep.”

He turns his head and points at the chair.

She helps him up, puts the cushion down and settles him carefully. He plucks at the fabric with a soft purr.

“Lisa made that for you. It should help with the sores.”

He points at the straps with one clawed finger.

“You’re right. I better tie you up again.”

He watches her as she cinches the straps around his legs, chest and left arm. She looks at him and he reaches for her face, then stops and turns his hand, touching her cheek with the back of his fingers. Her eyes fill with tears at the tender gesture, and she puts her hand in his and kisses his claws.

He sits very still as she puts his arm back down and tightens the strap.

She gets up and checks the hoses and bags.

“I gotta go,” she whispers.

He watches her leave.

***

Vanessa is feeding Kyrrtik. He’s been subdued since Eli’s slideshow, clearly sulking and perhaps even sad. She’s grateful that he doesn’t put up a fight and spit the food back out like he’s done plenty of times before; it’s Dr. Inman’s artificial banana flavor today, and Kyrrtik seems to like it better than the plain stuff. She changes the bucket under the chair and checks his bottom for sores.

“I’ll ask Lisa to make one of those pillows for you,” she tells him. “We can probably accommodate this shape. Like a donut cushion.”

She squats down in front of him.

“I broke my tailbone when I was ten. I sat on a life preserver for months, and man, did I ever feel stupid, but it was the only way to sit. They do work, trust me.”

Kyrrtik turns his face away from her.

She adjusts the sheets covering him, then begins to wash him with a wet cloth. He seems to enjoy that, and he holds relatively still for her. Chloe arrives to help and together they make quick work of cleaning him up.

Chloe contemplates the beard he’s grown.

“I wonder whether we should try to shave him,” she says. Vanessa shakes her head.

“Too dangerous. He would probably think we’re trying to hurt him. This is too long for an electric razor, so that means a blade, and we could do some serious damage.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

And at the same moment there is a heavy impact that nearly throws her off her feet.

They’re back again.

***

It happens regular as clockwork: they drop out of FTL, Scott dispatches the offworld team, the aliens show up, they recall the team and hunker down until Destiny jumps back into FTL.

Rush is strangely absent from the daily happenings. People see him whittling in various places all over the ship. He has never been much for socializing, but now he’s truly gone hermit on them.

Chloe talks with him sometimes.

The others just leave him alone.

***

TJ is examining Young’s body while Kyrrtik squirms and struggles.

She grasps his chin firmly and gives him a stern look.

“Listen,” she says kindly, “I’ve never hurt you, and I’m not going to now. But we want you back in your own body, and this one isn’t yours, so we need to take care of it.” She places a finger across his lips and nods.

Kyrrtik flexes his fingers but then he calms down.

She checks his blood pressure. It’s a little on the high side, but that could simply be stress.

“How is he?”

She nearly jumps at hearing Rush’s voice, and Kyrrtik turns and stares at him. Then he snarls angrily and resumes his struggling.

She puts herself into his line of sight, sighing deeply.

“High blood pressure, a slight fever, and he’s malnourished, like the rest of us.”

She motions at him to wait and turns back to Kyrrtik.

“I know you’re upset, and you can’t help us solve this either. But you need to try to stay calm. Camile will be here in a few minutes with a new slideshow that Eli made for you. Wacky sea creatures from SpongeBob SquarePants, or something like that – I think you’ll like it. Now try to be good, okay?”

He hisses softly and looks away.

She sighs and ushers Rush from the room.

“I want to see him,” Rush says without preamble as they meet up in the corridor.

“You just did. He’s scared of you.”

Rush blows out a breath. “Not the alien. Colonel Young. I want to see him.”

TJ steps in his path and stops him.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” she worries. “You’ve been severely traumatized by these creatures.”

“I’m a grown man, TJ, I think I can handle it.”

She crosses her arms.

“You never did let me check you over thoroughly when you came back. I’m concerned about you, that’s all.”

“Yeah, well, I appreciate that,” he rumbles, clearly not meaning it. “I have a problem with people manipulating my body right now.”

She feels chastised by his honesty and nods. “Okay, I can understand that. But at some point I really do need to get you checked out properly.”

“Yes, yes,” he dismisses her evasively. “Now. May I please see Colonel Young?”

She relents and accompanies him to Young’s cell.

***

They are sitting around the communication stones platform like scouts around a campfire.

“Recharging was a bust.”

“Different genetic signatures was a bust.”

“Checking the switch was a bust – it’s fine.”

“None of the stones were busted, so that was a bust, too.”

A long silence.

“We could of course just try it and see where we end up.”

“Out of the question – we can’t risk anyone else getting trapped. We can barely cope as is.”

Another long silence.

Eli raises his hand. “So we tried everything we could on our end. Think about it. What haven’t we checked in this equation?”

“Oh!” Lisa exclaims. “The stone on the other end!”

Eli bows to her. The others groan.

Eli shushes them. “Guys, we know Rush took a stone with him. The Blueberries must have found it on him and fired it up.”

“Well, crap,” Brody mutters. “We’ll never get to it now.”

They resume staring at the device.

***

Young chirps as TJ enters his cell. She smiles. “Hey yourself,” she says.

She checks the hoses, then bends down close to his face, her expressions serious.

“Rush is waiting outside. He wants to see you. Are you okay with that?”

Young sighs and taps on the armrest once.

“Want me to stay?”

Two taps.

“All right. I’ll be right outside the door.”

She waves and the door cycles open, admitting Rush, and TJ briefly touches his shoulder as she passes him.

Rush waits until the door is closed, then pulls up a chair and sits down in front of Young.

“Well, I never thought you were all that good-looking, Colonel, but these days you’re downright homely,” Rush grins.

Young just looks at him calmly.

“I thought we should have a little chat. Just so we know where we stand. See, I don’t even have to be nice to you – it’s not like we were ever friends.”

Young tilts his head to the left.

“I know you never told anyone that I framed you for Spencer’s death. Just so you know, I never told anyone about what really happened near the downed ship. How you knocked me out and left me behind.”

Young reaches for the keyboard.

SORRY

Rush scoffs. “Yeah, I bet you are. But you know what? That’s neither here nor there. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you got stuck in this body. I don’t know what to do about that. You’re so much less fun now, if that’s even possible.”

Young purrs softly.

Rush pulls out his knife and wood piece and begins to whittle.

“Nobody’s fighting me now. Nobody nips at my heels and annoys me. And it’s only a matter of time before the aliens find a way to clobber us for good.”

WHY

“I had a lot of neural contact with that alien creature. I’m pretty sure they planted a tracking device on the Destiny.”

REMOVE

“I agree, it needs to go. The next time we drop out of FTL I’ll have them fly a few kinos in a search pattern. If you could tell Scott to fly the shuttle he can zap the beacon.”

One tap.

“With a little luck it’ll all be done before the next attack.”

One tap.

Young makes a clicking noise.

“Ssesss,” he manages to utter.

Rush looks up.

Young points a clawed finger at him. “Ssesss,” he says again.

Rush holds up the piece he’s been whittling.

“You play?”

One tap.

PLEASE

Rush can’t help but smile a little. “All right – I’ll come by when it’s done.”

And much to his surprise he’s looking forward to it.

“You’ll see – I’ll kick your skinny little blue bottom.”

Young looks up at him and squints a little.

MAYBE

Rush nods and leaves.

***

Chloe is having another nightmare. They happen every time she closes her eyes, and it’s gotten to the point where she’s afraid to go to sleep. She roams the ship at all hours of the day, and the only thing she still enjoys is her weekly yoga class. It’s been quite a while since she’s had her whole group – somebody always needs to be with Kyrrtik and Young. So she’s offering several sessions now, to accommodate the necessary shifts.

It helps, taking care of others.

Her nightmares are all variations of a theme: being drawn into the blinding light and dropped into the water tank. The feeling of utter helplessness. The inability to communicate.

Caring for Young’s body with the alien consciousness still creeps her out, but it gives her something to do, and she’s never alone around him.

She’s grateful for Vanessa’s company – the two of them have partnered up in a shift to keep the Colonel’s body clean, and against all her expectations the act has become entirely routine, like doing laundry or washing the dishes.

“…so sometimes I wish I could take some of that alien venom, just to knock me out for a while, and not have those dreams.”

Vanessa nods.

“I know what you mean. But that wouldn’t really solve anything, would it?”

Chloe peels the top sheet off Young’s body and begins to scrub down his chest.

“No, probably not. I’m just so tired. I just want to rest.”

Vanessa reaches out for another wet cloth, and she hands it to her.

“Maybe you need to confront this head-on. You know, like they do with venom. You take a tiny bit at a time until your body has enough to fight it on its own.”

“What – just short little nightmares?”

Vanessa chuckles.

“Well, not exactly. Maybe you should visit Colonel Young in his cell.”

Chloe stares at her, open-mouthed, and Kyrrtik hisses, evidently annoyed that she has stopped her scrubbing which he undeniably does enjoy.

“I could never do that.”

“How could it possibly get any worse than what you’re already suffering? Maybe your subconscious needs you to cancel out the whole trauma somehow. And trust me, the Colonel is the friendliest Blueberry you’ll ever meet.”

“I know that, intellectually. I mean, he was the one who came after me, and he found Rush instead and then they both got me.”

“So there you go. Maybe you need to start by focusing on that thought. An alien that helped you escape.”

“Aww, I don’t know,” Chloe mutters and resumes her ministrations.

“He has a keyboard, so you can actually have sort of a conversation with him. And he’s learning to talk, just a little bit. Names. Simple words. If you listen closely.”

“Let me think about it,” Chloe whispers.

The sheer thought of it strikes terror in her heart.

But maybe Vanessa is on to something here.

Deep down she has a morbid desire to take her revenge on the aliens, even if it’s just to show no fear.

***

Riley and Greer are cleaning up Young’s alien body. They try very hard to keep the mood light, and Riley has a seemingly endless supply of funny stories about life on a farm. From pigs that got into leftover grapes from wine-making and getting roaring drunk in the process, to chickens with odd laying habits to horses that like to bite people’s behinds – Riley knows it all.

Greer is breathless with laughter, and Young holds perfectly still as they wipe down his face, arms and legs. They change all the bags according to TJ’s instructions and fluff up Lisa’s bean bag cushion, and Young reaches for the keyboard.

THANKS

“You’re welcome, Sir,” Greer says, suddenly serious as he kneels down next to him.

“I wish there was something more I could do.”

“We’re all flummoxed about the stones,” Riley interjects.

SHOOT ME

The two men stare at each other.

“Sir?”

BURDEN

Riley bends down and lays his hand on Young’s shoulder.

“You’re not serious, Sir?”

Young hesitates, then taps the armrest twice.

Riley lets out a breath he wasn’t aware of holding, but Greer nods.

“If you ever get to that point, Sir, you let me know. I hate to see you like this. I would have bled myself a long time ago.”

NOT YET

“Are you really considering this?” Riley is stunned.

Young tilts his head to one side and doesn’t respond.

*** 

Destiny is dropping out of FTL and Brody, Volker and Dr. Inman, who turned out to be the best kino pilot of them all, are flying their respective kinos in a search pattern across Destiny’s hull. 

“Oh my god, there it is!” Eli points at the screen with the feed from Inman’s kino.

It shows a sizeable globe with red lights that is quite distinctly different from Destiny’s surface material.

“Careful,” Rush warns them. “Back up slowly. It might have defensive capabilities.”

The kino retreats and Inman flies it in a wide curve around the device.

Minutes later the alien ships drop into normal space near them and they hurry to get the kinos safely inside before the bombardment begins again.

“Next time we do this we hit that sucker from the shuttle,” Scott swears. “That should keep them from finding us again.”

Rush turns away.

“Maybe,” he says softly.

  
***   


TJ has finished checking up on Young’s human body. With Chloe’s help she takes his blood pressure and temperature, checks his cortical reflexes, heart and pulse.

“How’s he doing?”

TJ shakes her head.

“High blood pressure, slight fever, as usual. Could be some sort of infection, could be a side effect of the stone use. We may never know.”

Chloe nods.

“Vanessa thinks I should go see Colonel Young.”

TJ pauses.

“He’s been asking about you every day.”

“Really?”

“Yes, of course. He’s concerned for both you and Dr. Rush.”

“Has Rush been there?”

TJ puts her stethoscope away.

“Yes. He’s making a chess set. I think he’s close to done. Then I guess the two of them will play.”

Chloe looks at her hands.

“I feel like such a wuss. I mean, he came after me, and here I am, and I look like I don’t care. I just have these horrible nightmares… I can’t help it. I’m scared.”

TJ nods and gently ushers her out into the corridor.

“Look, it’s totally up to you. He knows what he looks like. He’s not expecting you to go see him. He understands, believe me.”

“Will it make me feel better?”

TJ smiles. “I don’t know that, Chloe. Shock therapy like that can go either way. But you’ll never know unless you try. Just don’t guilt yourself into something you’re not ready to do.”

Chloe nods.

“I think I want to try. Would someone be with me?”

“Lisa is with him right now. I’m sure she’d be happy to stay with you.”

Chloe takes a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this.”

***

Rush is relieved when Destiny jumps back into FTL. His chest aches more with each passing day, and he knows he has to come clean soon about the danger he poses.

As the colored lights of FTL speed wash over him he resumes his whittling.

He has to concentrate on not cutting himself.

It helps.

***

Lisa is reading a trashy Wormhole X-Treme novel to Young.

He seems to be quite enthralled, because Lisa’s reading comes with a running commentary and MST3K dialogue, complete with different vocal impressions.

“Sssa,” Young interrupts her and nods at the door.

Lisa looks up and spies Chloe through the porthole.

“Chloe,” she beams. “Come in!”

The door cycles open and Chloe stands there, holding on to the door frame to steady herself.

Young sits very still as she just stares at him for a while.

Then he purrs softly. “Ko-ee.”

Chloe smiles just a little. “Hello, Colonel,” she responds.

Lisa waves her over and she approaches cautiously.

“I brought you something,” she says hesitantly.

He tilts his head a little and looks up at her.

She holds out an iPod and small speakers.

Young hisses softly and reaches for the keyboard.

VERY KIND

Chloe takes another step and reads the screen.

“I can do without it for a little while. Mr. Brody says you should be able to work it yourself, if I show you how.”

One tap.

“I have a pretty diverse collection – I’m sure there’s something on there that you like.”

MOODY BLUES

Chloe laughs in delight. “Yes! I have all their albums on here! How lucky! They are – were – my dad’s favorite band. He used to go to all their concerts, he was a real Blues Head.”

And she slides up next to him and explains how to call up the menu screens, how to choose an album or a song and he works hard at using a claw to tap the tiny dial.

Lisa stands back and just watches with a smile on her face, the tacky novel all but forgotten.

There is a victory being won in front of her eyes.

It is far more satisfying than anything she has in print.

***

Eli is brooding.

He’s checked and re-checked the results of the communications stones device.

“It has got to be a problem on their end,” he mutters.

Grabbing his laptop he ambles down the hall to Kyrrtik’s cell. Dunning is standing watch outside, Volker is inside, engrossed in a camping stove manual.

Dunning signals to Volker and opens the door.

“Yo, Blueberry,” Eli greets the alien in Young’s body.

“Take a look at this. Have you seen this before?”

He turns the screen towards Kyrrtik. It shows a large high-res image of a communication stone.

Kyrrtik’s reaction is instantaneous – he explodes into a frantic struggle and screams and hisses aggressively. Volker jumps up and scoots towards the door as Dunning comes rushing in, gun at the ready.

“Bingo,” says Eli. “He knows something. Maybe he screwed it up, or someone else did after he used the stone.”

“All he did was holler,” Volker jerks a thumb at the snarling alien.

“Yes, but the reaction was quite sudden and extreme. It was definitely triggered by that image.”

He closes the laptop.

“I’m gonna talk to Colonel Young.”

***

The familiar blur-shift occurs and Scott and Greer race to the shuttle.

“We’ve got 2 hours,” Rush urges them on via the radio, “which means you have half an hour at best, probably less, before the aliens show up again.”

They strap themselves in and go through an abbreviated launch check-out, having left the shuttle in standby mode, just in case.

Dr. Inman compares her kino footage to the shuttle’s path while Brody, Volker and Lisa look on anxiously. “You’re good, right on track. To your left a little,” she advises Scott who’s piloting.

Lisa is monitoring the long-range sensors. “Still nothing,” she reports. “Hurry up, you guys.”

“There.” Brody taps his screen with the end of his pencil.

Inman beams. “Go around the damaged gun to your right. It will give you a little bit of coverage.”

“Roger that,” Scott responds.

Greer chuckles. “Weapons hot.”

Rush wanders over to the holographic display, scratching his scraggly beard. “Good to go, Sergeant,” he confirms.

“Contact,” Lisa yelps. “Oh my god, they’re back!”

“Firing.” Greer sounds uncharacteristically calm, and they can all feel the thump of the impact.

“Woohoo!” Scott shouts excitedly. “Got it in one! Greer, you da man! The tracking beacon is history.”

Rush shakes his head and turns away, rubbing his chest. “All right, Mr. Brody – transfer all available power to the shields.”

Lisa moves over to the intercom system and announces a ship-wide blackout to conserve power.

Kyrrtik wails in his cell.

Eli hunkers down to wait it out in the dark corridor.

Young closes his eyes as the music plays on.

***

“I’ve gone over the test results countless times. All the data supports that the problem is not on our side.” Eli gestures wildly as Young stares at the laptop screen.

“It has to be the stone that Rush took – maybe it’s defective or the Blueberries, no offense intended, screwed it up somehow.”

Young looks up at him.

THANKS

Eli seems crestfallen.

“I don’t think there is anything we can do, but I felt you should know where we stand, and the fact that you may be like this for the rest of your natural life.”

Chloe, who has been standing near the door, breaks into tears.

“This is all my fault,” she sobs. “If I’d stayed in my room they wouldn’t have taken me, and he would never have come after me.”

FOUND RUSH

“That’s true,“ Eli agrees. “He did find Rush.”

Chloe sniffles. “Still… I feel horrible about it, really, I do, Colonel.”

“And now the beacon is gone. Greer zapped it a couple of hours ago. I’m sorry, Colonel.”

OKAY

Eli gently ushers Chloe out of the room.

Young sits quietly, stunned.

***

TJ steps into the light, and there’s Young in his alien body, tied to his chair.

She listens to his heart – a strange rhythm, but for some reason it doesn’t bother her, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world. She checks the back of his skull. Routine.

She shines her penlight into his eyes. There is no reflex.

“Tee-ssay,” he hisses softly.

“Don’t,” she replies, trying hard not to cry.

He makes a low keening sound and hangs his head, as she reaches for his wrist and then stops.

She lets go of his hand and unties the straps holding his arms down, then she takes off the rope around his chest and neck and kneels down to remove the bindings around his ankles.

She reaches out under his arms and pulls him up out of the chair. He groans in pain as he straightens out, and she pulls him close into a gentle hug. He rests his chin on her shoulder, and she reaches around and supports his head, pressing his face against her neck. He’s quiet, trembling a little.

“Come on,” she says and takes his clawed hand.

They step into the dark hallway and she leads him to her quarters, closing the door behind them.

He stands perfectly still as she opens the back seam of his suit, and it peels off his body easily, painlessly, bunching up at his haunches, and she bends down to hold the stiff material as he steps out of it.

Then she takes off her jacket and shoes, pulls down her pants, socks and panties, peels off her shirt and bra.

She reaches for his chin, makes him look at her. She kisses him, and his lips are strangely soft, exactly as she remembers, and she can feel him shivering in the cool air of her room. She touches his face, his chest, runs her hands along his arms, then kisses him again, slowly, sweetly.

She takes his hand and moves to the bed, and he lies down, never letting go of her hand, looking up at her.

She climbs up onto the bed and straddles his hips, then leans forward and kisses him again. He moans as she goes deeper, and she can feel his other hand on her back, stroking her gently with the tips of his claws. She smiles against his lips and begins to move above him.

He moans as he bucks his hips upwards, and she flies.

There’s something wet on her face, and she wakes up in tears, her body still thrumming with intense heat.

She cries out in terror and buries her face in her pillow, sobbing.

She’s alone.

She’s ashamed.

And she has to admit she loved every second of it.

***

“You want purple or green?”

Rush holds up two chess figures to Young.

COLORS

“Yes, well – we don’t have black or white paint, so Brody gave me a little purple sweet potato hooch for dye, and Becker got me some green seaweed to use on the others. So – purple or green?”

PURPLE

“All right.”

Rush pulls over a small table and sets up the chess board Riley has lovingly crafted out of bits of tile he found in a storage room. The figures are a little off in size, and none of the pawns actually look even remotely alike, but Rush finds himself irrationally pleased with his set. He places the chess pieces on the board and then holds up a coin.

“Heads or tails?”

Young cocks his head.

“Heads it is for you.”

Rush tosses the coin in the air, catches it and slaps it on the back of his other hand.

“Tails.”

One tap.

Rush makes his first move.

***

Lisa is in the infirmary with a nasty cut that won’t quit bleeding, after she hurt herself on a water container. Destiny has dropped into orbit around another planet with a large lake near the Stargate and everybody pitches in to replenish their reserves. TJ adds layers of gauze and applies pressure to the wound.

“You look great today,” Lisa says to her through a haze of pain.

“I do?”

“Yeah – you’re smiling. And you got color in your cheeks. Ouch.”

“Sorry.”

“No, no, I’m good, I’m just a wimp. So, what happened?”

TJ shrugs.

“I got some sleep for a change.”

Lisa blows out a breath. “I know what you mean! Now that the stupid beacon is gone we should be safe, right?”

TJ closes her eyes briefly. “Yes, you’re right, that must be it. Maybe we’ll all sleep a little better now.”

And in that moment the lights dim and an impact rocks the ship.

“Oh no.”

***

Brody urges the away team to hurry, and as soon as the gate shuts down they re-route its power to the shields.

The aliens are back.

***

HOW

Rush leans back and closes his eyes.

“Because I’m still here,” he whispers. “They implanted a transmitter in my chest, next to my heart.”

BEACON

“Yes.”

REMOVE

“I agree, but we have nobody here on board who can even remotely attempt to do the surgery, and we can’t use the stones to bring in a surgeon from Earth. I never expected the thing to work so well – and I certainly didn’t expect we wouldn’t be able to fix the stones device.”

Young leans back and looks up at the ceiling, eyes half-closed.

Rush gets up and gathers the chess pieces and board. He’s been close to calling check mate anyway.

Young utters an anguished cry.

GO TO SHIP

“What? Are you nuts? Oh, cheerio, folks, would you kindly remove the bloody transmitter from my chest?”

Two taps.

I GO

“You?”

LIKE THEM FIND STONE DESTROY

Rush sits down. “You fooled them pretty well last time,” he has to admit. “We have no idea where the stone is. It’s a very big ship.”

BRING FAKE FIND STORAGE

Rush squints at him.

“That’s nuts.”

DESTROY STONE DOC OPERATE

Rush looks up.

SCOTT TJ

“I’ll go get them.” Rush takes his chess set and leaves.

Young sits up straight.

He’s alone with his plan.

***

Vanessa and Chloe are feeding Kyrrtik when Becker hurries in. “Colonel Young wants to see you two. It’s urgent. Go. I’ll finish up with Blueberry here.”

The women exchange a worried look and Chloe hands the cup to Becker.

Kyrrtik growls and tugs at his restraints.

They leave, and Becker pulls up a stool. “All right, buddy, it’s just me. Settle down, now. Gotta finish your din-din. Heeeeere comes the airplaaaaaaane… vroom vroom vroom…”

Kyrrtik relents and eats up.

***

TJ is pale and nervous as she addresses her closest friends.

“Colonel Young has decided to go back to the alien ship. He’s the only one who can do it. He will take a fake stone with him. Sergeant Riley has agreed to fabricate one from available materials. Anybody like to help him?”

Camile raises her hand.

“Thanks, that’s great. Once on the ship he will try to find the place where the other stone is kept and destroy it. At that point he and Kyrrtik should swap bodies again.”

“Those things are pretty hardy little devices,” Camile pipes up. “How will you manage?”

Greer holds up a palm-sized square of gray doughy material.

“C-4 should do the trick quite nicely. Probably take out a few rooms, too.”

“Why don’t we give him a lot of that stuff then, so he can blow up the whole ship?” Eli indicates a massive explosion with his hands.

Scott shakes his head.

“Kyrrtik needs to physically survive. If he dies, the Colonel dies. So, we’re going to use a timer, to give him a chance to get a safe distance away.”

Nods all around.

“What if they figure out it’s not Kyrrtik? What if they don’t fall for this whole thing? What if he can’t find the stone?” Camile is clearly not convinced.

Young makes a clicking noise and they all turn to him.

MY DECISION

Camile shakes her head. “I still think it’s too risky, Colonel.”

Volker puts his hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll just have to hope for the best.”

TJ sighs. “So that’s the plan, then. It’s another bad one, we all know that, but we can’t go on like this, and Colonel Young is correct: it is his decision.”

“He did great – acting the part when Dr. Rush and I were over there,” Chloe confirms. “They never suspected a thing. Where is Rush, by the way?”

“He wasn’t feeling well,” Brody supplies.

“All right, people, let’s get to work,” Scott says. “Brody, Lisa and Caine – get the alien shuttle ready. TJ, if you could look into transferring the supplies for the Colonel – we have to get him in there as soon as possible, so he can take off right away at the next contact, before they start shooting. Eli – find Rush and drag him up there, to help with explaining the flight controls. Riley and Ms Wray – Becker is waiting for you; he has some stuff in the mess you can use for the fake stone. James and Chloe, TJ needs you for another minute. Everyone else – go do your job.”

They all leave quietly, subdued.

TJ bites her lip.

“Here’s the deal – Rush has a transmitter in his chest. He told the Colonel – that’s how the aliens could find us even after the beacon was destroyed. Now, I can’t do this kind of surgery. As soon as the stone on the ship has been destroyed, someone has to connect with Earth and switch with a surgeon. Dr. Brightman, if possible.”

“I’ll do it,” Chloe jumps in immediately. “I mean, I don’t have to know what I’m doing, right? It won’t be me.”

“That’s correct. Thank you. Vanessa, I need you to get an operating room ready – this is going to be down-and-dirty field surgery. Do the best you can, and I’ll check on it in a little bit.”

They stand there, stunned by the revelation.

***

“Rush, we need you. Come on. Please.” Eli gently puts a hand on his back.

Rush groans and clutches his chest. “Okay, okay,” he breathes. “Just… give me a second.”

Eli shifts nervously from foot to foot, until Rush gets up. He takes a deep breath.

“The pain comes and goes,” he mutters. “Let’s be off.”

Eli is quite thrilled to be in the alien craft, and as he watches Rush do a systems check he’s writing furiously to provide instructions for Young. He applies tape to the most critical systems and labels them clearly.

Rush shakes his head.

“Young’s a pilot, Eli. Don’t be so anal about this.”

Eli glares at him.

“Do we really want to risk him flushing himself out into space instead of engaging the docking clamps? I think not.”

“Fine. Whatever,” Rush grumbles.

TJ comes climbing up into the shuttle with a tub of supplies. She hangs the bags on rails at the low ceiling and drapes the feeder and drain lines over the pilot’s seat.

Eli looks up. She’s weeping quietly.

He moves over to her and pulls her into a bear hug.

“He’ll be fine, TJ. This is what he’s trained for. And I for one can’t blame him for wanting to get back into his own body.”

TJ nods. “I know. And he’s not doing it for himself, anyway. He’s doing it so we can operate on Rush, so we can be safe.”

“Exactly my point,” Eli smiles. “It’s what he has to do. You’d do the same, if it were you, right?”

TJ smiles a little.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Rush has been listening quietly.

“It’s ready,” he points out. “Let’s go.”

  
***   


“Wow.”

Becker stares at the two stones on the mess hall table. “Which one is the real one?”

Camile beams. “The one on the left. I was crafts-obsessed a few years ago. This was actually fun.”

Riley eyes her with undisguised skepticism. “You did crafts? Like decorations and frou-frou and things?”

“Why is that so weird?”

“Ornaments?!” 

“So what?”

Riley shrugs. “I dunno. I just didn’t know that about you.”

“Well, I could ask the same thing about you.”

“Oh, pshaw,” Riley scoffs, “I have seven siblings at home. Try growing up on a farm without keeping the kids busy with stuff like that. It comes with the territory.”

“Well, good for you,” Camile smiles and gathers up the stones.

“You go on ahead,” Riley waves at her, “I’ll help Darren clean up.”

But she’s already gone.

***

Vanessa surveys her handiwork as TJ lays out surgical instruments and supplies.

“It’s a little on the ghetto side, but it’s the best I could do.”

“It’s great,” TJ praises her. “Go get Rush. He should stay in this room so we can put him under as soon as we make contact with Dr. Brightman. She’s a wizard with stuff like that.”

“Yes, she is. I remember, she got that bullet out of Riley’s chest, right after I arrived at the SGC,” Vanessa nods. “This will be like M.A.S.H., then. Except not as funny. And far more real.”

TJ sniffles.

“Hey,” Vanessa takes her hand. “All we can do is try our best. It’s what Colonel Young is doing, too.”

***

TJ is reminded of those movies where a guard takes a death row inmate to the electric chair.

Young sits quietly as she unties him for the last time.

“Could you give us a moment?” she asks Scott who nods and closes the door behind him.

HAPPY

She shakes her head.

“I’d rather have you like this than lose you altogether,” she whispers.

He reaches up and touches her face with the back of his fingers.

“I know you need to do this. Just please understand, that if this doesn’t work, you need to come back. To us. To me.”

He gently places a claw across her lips and shakes his head.

“I understand,” she says, trying to sound brave.

“Tee-ssay,” he coos, and she gathers him in her arms. She can feel him trembling, and she knows she needs to be strong for him.

“Russs,” he manages to get out.

She nods. “We’ll take good care of him. He should be in the operating room by now, with Chloe and Vanessa. Caine is standing by with the stones terminal.”

She turns and goes towards the door, and he follows her, a bit unsteadily on stiff legs.

They step out into the corridor – and all of Destiny’s people are lined up there.

Rush, Vanessa, Caine and Chloe are up first.

“Good luck, Sir,” Vanessa salutes him. Rush nods and Chloe is crying into Caine’s shoulder. Young lifts his clawed hand to his temple, and they leave.

He passes the others slowly, nodding at everyone, touching outstretched hands, saluting others.

TJ follows him.

Brody gives him a boost up into the alien craft and TJ climbs up after him and hooks him up to the hoses again.

Young surveys the craft and purrs, pointing at Eli’s notes and getting his bearings.

“Everett,” TJ says in a small voice and he looks up at her frightened face.

“I have to go now. Please come back – one way or another.”

He looks at her steadily and nods.

She kisses him on the forehead and then turns and leaves. The access hatch closes after her.

He’s never felt so alone in his life.

He takes a deep breath and pushes everything out of his mind except the alien craft.

He’s going into combat – alone – again.

He knows what to do.

***

Rush and Vanessa play chess while Chloe and Caine pass the time with Battleships.

Camile and Eli present another slide show to Kyrrtik who clearly senses something is up.

Brody, Volker, Lisa and Riley are hunched over consoles in the control center.

Scott paces.

Greer is doing push-ups.

TJ sits with Franklin in the infirmary. She massages his unresponsive fingers when he turns his head a little and looks at her.

“Hey, Doc,” she smiles.

He lifts his arm a little and tilts his head.

She scoots up onto the bed next to him and leans against his shoulder.

He understands, and it comforts her.

The minutes stretch into hours.

Then Destiny drops out of FTL.

***

Young feels the shift back to normal space and he’s instantly alert. He tugs on the supply lines and pulls them off the collar of his suit.

The homing beacon on the console before him begins to flicker, then blinks frantically and finally stays lit.

He reaches for the docking clamps release and with a roll and tumble he’s off.

He can see the alien ships, and he tamps down a brief moment of panic by concentrating on keeping the beacon centered on his target screen. The little craft maneuvers easily and precisely, and he wishes he could keep it somehow.

The alien ship looms impossibly large in his viewport and he almost doesn’t see the bay access until he’s nearly there.

The giant ship swallows the tiny shuttle and he reverses the thrusters, gliding in to a smooth docking, assisted by a tractor beacon that leads him to a docking berth. He extends the clamps and with a gentle thud they make contact.

He engages the autodock and waits for the pressure to equalize, then picks up the stone and cycles the door open.

Immediately there’s that unpleasant smell again, like a dentist’s office, and the air is cold and clammy.

He’s back on the ship.

***

“That’s it, he’s on board,” Volker announces.

“All right, people, you know the drill,” Brody adds, and Lisa makes the ship-wide announcement.

The lights go out on Destiny as Riley diverts all the power they can spare to the shields.

TJ looks up as she hears the call.

“I gotta go,” she pats Franklin on the chest. He smiles at her lopsidedly and closes his eyes.

She hurries off to Kyrrtik’s cell. Eli hands her a kino remote and promises to call in immediately should Young return to his own body.

The alien seems agitated and restless, and she puts her hand on his knee.

“Hang in there,” she says kindly, “It will all be over soon, one way or the other.”

She nods at Camile and Eli and leaves to get Rush ready for the surgery.

***

Young touches the C4 and timer Greer has tucked under his collar, checking for the safety latch so he won’t accidentally blow himself up. He picks up the stone, takes a deep breath and fights off the nausea. He’s no chicken at the dentist, but he hates that smell, and so he tells himself that soon he’ll be able to ignore it.

He steps out of the craft into the bay and there are two aliens waiting with a cart of equipment. He hisses at them and they give him a blank stare, then enter the craft and he hears more growling and hissing as the supply bags come flying out and go splat on the floor.

He picks them up and deposits them in a tub on the cart, feeling vaguely guilty about inconveniencing the custodial staff. They probably have no idea who he is or where he came from. One of them pokes his head out of the shuttle and looks around. Young points at the cart and the alien coos softly, then disappears again.

He moves farther into the ship, stepping on an elevator platform and moving up two levels, then retracing the steps to the chamber where Chloe was held:  left, right left, right, right. The tank has been repaired and stands vacant. He follows the map in his mind to Rush’s former chamber.

Several aliens are working on sealing the front glass panel back into place. One of them turns and snarls at him. He holds up the stone. The alien makes a clicking noise and gestures to the hallway, then to the right. He nods and retreats, breathing a sigh of relief.

He gets to an intersection where a handful of aliens seem to stand in silent conversation. He holds up the stone and points at it, and one of the aliens hisses and points down another corridor.

Young marches on, trying to walk with purpose and not appearing too friendly.

Further down another alien is fumbling with an open console on the wall. He seems shorter than the others, and he has only one arm. Young watches him for a while as he struggles with a wire and finally he reaches out to hold the wire that keeps slipping from the alien’s hand. The alien chirps excitedly and twists the two wires together, then notices the stone and eagerly gestures at the next chamber.

Young walks in.

It looks like a small storage facility with neat rows of shelves. He starts down one aisle and marvels briefly at the vast collection of items the aliens have amassed. None of them look even remotely familiar. He hears a soft chirping noise, and the one-armed alien who was working on the console points down another aisle.

And sure enough – there is the missing stone, nestled in an open box lined with soft pliant material. He picks it up and notices that a small hole has been drilled through its center – a core sample, perhaps, and quite likely the cause of his current predicament. He feels a little lightheaded and uses his body to mask his action as he fishes the C4, detonator and timer out of his suit. It’s difficult to attach the doughy mass to the stone with his clumsy claws, but he manages eventually.

He sets the timer for five minutes.

***

“How much longer,” Chloe asks.

“There’s no telling,” Rush grumbles as TJ wipes down his chest with alcohol. “It could be minutes or hours or days, or never. They may have locked him up already.”

TJ gives him a stern look. “I’m going to rule out that possibility,” she says and starts an IV line on his arm.

Vanessa sighs deeply and puts the chess set away, and then joins Chloe in playing Battleships.

“Whoa,” comes Eli’s voice through the kino remote.

“What? What is it?”

“Noooope, no joy… we just had a good bit of, well, product here,” Eli answers. “Let me get this, Camile. There’s a new bucket over there.”

They hear Kyrrtik growl in the background.

Chloe smirks.

***

Young leaves the storage room, forcing himself to walk at a normal pace – not an easy feat knowing about the level of hell that is brewing on a shelf behind him. He steps out into the corridor and walks in the opposite direction from where he came.

A subdued chirp makes him stop, and he turns to see the one-armed alien still fumbling with the wall console. He considers ignoring him, pauses, and then returns to the other creature. He points down the hallway but the alien merely chirps and resumes his work.

Young hisses at him and reaches for his shoulder, trying to pull him away from the console. The alien wails, sounding scared, and suddenly Young has had enough. He grabs him by his arm and pulls him away, dragging the protesting creature down the corridor. For the shrimpy little guy he is the alien puts up quite a fight. Young knows time is running out so he pushes him around the next corner and yanks him down to the floor, covering him with his own body.

A tremendous explosion rips through the ship, fire and smoke shooting down the hallway, then a pressure wave that robs him of his senses. He slips into the gray fog, feeling the alien creature shaking beneath him.

And his world shifts.

***

The smell has changed. It’s no longer the dentist’s office smell – it’s a vague scent of machine oil, sweat and bananas.

Bananas?

And then he remembers: Dr. Inman had come up with an artificial banana flavor to make the daily protein slop more palatable.

“Ba… na… nas,” he says slowly, taking a deep breath.

And then he screams and screams and can’t seem to stop.

***

TJ falters when she hears the commotion via the kino remote. There are shouts, and more screams, crashing noises and then Eli’s panicked voice: “Oh god, I don’t know what’s… wait… I think he said ‘bananas’… What’s going…”

The screams turn into racking sobs, then pained coughs.

“I think he’s back,” Camile cries out. “Colonel? Is that you?”

“Yes,” comes the reply. “Yes, it’s me.”

TJ feels her face split into a huge smile, and she gestures at Caine and Chloe. “Go,” she urges them on. Caine turns on the stones terminal and Vanessa picks up a stone and places it gently on the box.

Minutes later she’s back and Chloe goes in now as Dr. Brightman takes over her body. TJ injects the alien venom into the IV and Rush goes under within seconds.

TJ explains to Dr. Brightman what needs to be done. Weapons fire keeps rocking the ship. TJ assures her that there’s nothing to worry about and they begin the surgery.

It goes off without a hitch, despite the connection to the stones glitching several times. Vanessa makes sure Chloe is looking up whenever it happens, and they pause until Brightman returns.

Scott has entered quietly and when Brightman removes the nasty-looking transmitter he catches it in a bowl and smashes it with the handle of his sidearm.

***

Young takes deep, even breaths.

“Sir?” Greer steps forward.

“Sergeant,” Young replies slowly, carefully, no longer used to his own tongue.

“You did it?”

“I guess so. They had drilled a hole into the stone – core sample, maybe. It’s gone now.”

And he falls silent, thinking of the little one-armed alien and hoping he survived the blast.

“Well, what happened? I wanna hear all about it!” Eli scoots closer, all eager to listen.

“Not now, Eli,” Camile pulls him aside. “Let’s give the Colonel some time. And maybe his clothes back.” She tugs him away and to the door.

Greer kneels down and unties Young, then turns and gets his neatly folded stack of clothes.

Young closes his eyes.

“Come on, Sir,” Greer says softly. “Let’s get you dressed. It’s all clean. I’m happy to help, if you need me to.”

Young nods. “I don’t think I can get up by myself,” he sighs.

And Greer gently helps him out of the chair, moving his hands to the backrest so he can steady himself, and then he gets him dressed. Young hangs his head, allowing Greer to do everything and knowing fully well there’s nothing he can do to help.

When he’s done Greer waves at the door and Eli and Dunning drag in a large stuffed chair. Young sits down gratefully, closing his eyes again.

“We’ll let you rest for a while, Sir,” Greer says. “I’ll be right here, if you need anything.”

The others leave.

“Rush?” Young whispers.

“He’s in surgery, Sir. Eli made a scope out of a kino, and Dr. Brightman is operating via Chloe. Should be done in a minute.”

“I wanna see him.”

“Yes, Sir. As soon as TJ gives the all clear I’ll take you there.”

Young nods and promptly falls asleep.

Greer looks down at him and smiles.

***

“OK, we can close him up,” Dr. Brightman smiles. “Good work, everyone.”

She works quickly, praising TJ’s precise stitches as she assists.

“I’ll finish up,” the doctor says. “Go. You need to check on Colonel Young.”

At that moment Destiny jumps back into FTL, and after the familiar blur-shift the ship returns to its familiar hum and one by one the lights come on again. TJ peels off her gloves and takes off at a dead run.

Vanessa smiles in sympathy and hands the requested instruments to the doctor, and soon they are done.

“I should go back,” Brightman says. “I’ll send a post-op nurse to help supervise until TJ gets back.”

Vanessa nods. “OK. Tell them they’ll be swapping with me, then.”

Brightman removes the stone from the terminal and Chloe gasps as she returns.

“Is it done?”

“Yep. Stay here – I’ll go next, they’re sending a nurse.”

Chloe steps aside and Vanessa places her stone on the device. A short time later a very nice woman named Evans from Homeworld Command takes over and begins the post-op care.

***

Greer places a finger across his lips as TJ enters quietly.

“I’ll be right outside,” he whispers and leaves as she kneels down beside Young.

Tears are running down her face as she gently places her hand over his.

He twitches and opens his eyes, focuses on her and smiles.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey, TJ,” he answers.

She bites her lip and he lifts his hand and she turns her face into his palm, holding his hand against her cheek.

***

“I wonder what happened to Kyrrtik,” Chloe muses over lunch. “I hope he’s all right. And the little one-armed guy the Colonel mentioned.”

“We’ll probably never find out,” Scott shakes his head. “I for one don’t miss him. He was one ill-tempered customer.”

“Oh, cut him some slack,” Camile interjects. “He may have had nothing to do with any of this at all. Maybe he was just a – a bookkeeper, or a lab tech.”

“The guy who cleans the specimen tank windows,” Eli suggests.

“Hey, Rush, come join us,” Scott calls out as the scientist enters the mess hall.

Rush shakes his head. “I need to get back to work.”

“You just had surgery,” Volker protests. “Take a few days off!”

“Thanks, but no.” He nods at them and takes his bowl from Becker.

Camile walks over to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Nicholas, nobody’s pushing you. We’re all back, and that’s what counts.”

He doesn’t look convinced but nods anyway.

***

She finds him, alone, bracing himself against the railing on the observation deck.

TJ watches for a few moments, and something warm uncoils in her belly and flows through her. She smiles and steps closer. He’s shaved and looks like himself again.

They contemplate the colored streaks of light gliding over the ship.

“The worst of it was being alone with my thoughts,” he finally breaks the silence, well aware of her presence.

She closes the distance and stands next to him.

“Everything else is just skin deep.”

She nods.

“I’m glad Rush is doing so well and is back to his old grouchy self. If I’d known –“

“But you didn’t,” she interrupts him, “and there’s no point in second-guessing yourself. I think you’ve both suffered enough.”

He shakes his head but doesn’t answer, and for the first time she catches a glimpse of how deeply Young was affected by his experience, and the consequences for Rush and Chloe.

“Well – there’s plenty of opportunity now for both of you to work it out. That chess set looks really good.”

“It does,” he agrees, “I never figured him to be the crafty type.”

TJ chuckles. “I don’t think he did, either.”

“Chloe all right?”

“She’s coping. It will take time.”

He looks down at his hand, holding on to the railing.

“Anyway, I’m really glad you came back, Sir,” she ventures.

He turns and smiles at her.

“I wasn’t actually gone for that long.”

She nods, and turns to leave.

“TJ?”

“Yes, Sir?”

“Thanks for everything. I would have gone nuts without your help. You really kept it together, and I know I can never repay you for that.”

She nods, and he knows she’s crying.

“Hey, it’s all right,” he says gently. “Come here.”

She turns and slips into his arms, once more relishing his warm embrace, even if it’s just for a fleeting moment.

It’s a bad idea, she knows it, but it’s still the best one she has.

***

The End  


 Artwork for the story can be found on my LJ. Please click on the thumbnail for the link.

[](http://shena8.livejournal.com/37203.html)  
 

 

 

 

 


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